The fight against breast cancer never rests and Tenerife has some of the fiercest battlers of all. The Walk For Life team are now in their 11th year of raising funds and awareness and have diversified by adding the Swim For Life, held again this year at T3 – Tenerife Top Training in La Caleta.

Pink skull caps sliced through the water in the two pools as well over a hundred swimmers of all ages worked through a challenging schedule of races in a range of strokes. It was very much the taking part that was most important although some of the experienced club swimmers were keenly competitive. I’m always impressed by the organization of the Walk For Life and the swimming version was just as smooth with Tenerife Rotary Club and the T3 staff pitching in with the charity regulars.

Olympic swimmers from around the globe regularly train at T3 but even they would have struggled to match the enthusiasm and commitment of these Sunday morning speedsters. Many competitors had traveled down from Santa Cruz and swimmers were from several communities with a mix of languages, cancer is a common enemy to all. Shining through all the flurry of activity was a sense of fun that bubbled up in a fast, frothy, and frantic mass water aerobic session. Instructor Teresa “Maquina” Guarino whipped them up into a frenzy and pulled the tide of swimmers from one side of the pool and back again with a control that King Canute would have envied.

The end result of the three hours was a pot of 2,200 euros to be shared between Spain’s AECC charity and the Tenerife based AMATE, and the Walk For Life funds. The latest project to near completion is the Pink Room, an Adeje help center for breast cancer sufferers and their helpers. Advice will be available in a range of languages and they will also be able to organize events and practical support. The center is due to open in October 2015, they are still looking for items to help furnish the building, have a look on the multi lingual website in the Pink Room section, you may have just what they need.

There will barely be time to dry towels and rinse out swim gear as work goes on to prepare for the Walk For Life 2015 on Sunday 13 December. Ink that in your diary and keep an eye on the website for news of the route through Arona and Adeje. Big respect to all the swimmers and organizers who made the Swim For Life a success – see you for more next year.